New Altima prepares for middleweight bout

Nissan has ambitious sales goals for its redesigned Altima, which goes on sale in September, but it will have to compete head-on with the two best-selling cars in the U.S. to achieve those goals.

Last year, Nissan sold 136,971 Altimas in the U.S. versus 422,961 Toyota Camrys and 404,515 Honda Accords. Through the first half of 2001, Accord has pulled ahead of the Camry with sales of 250,161 to 230,126. Altima trails at 86,594.

Nissan wants to boost Altima sales to 190,000 units a year in 2002, a 38 percent increase from last year.

Size has been one of the Altima's drawbacks. Previous models were shorter and not as roomy as the Accord, Camry and other midsize cars, and some industry analysts called them those Altimas "compacts."

The 2002 Altima is 191.5 inches long, half a foot longer than the previous version and nearly three inches longer than the Accord and the 2001 Camry. Like the Altima, the Camry will be redesigned for 2002, but Toyota has not released dimensions.

The new Altima is taller and wider than the 2001 model, giving it true midsize proportions, and it offers a V-6 engine for the first time.

Those features will allow it to compete directly with the 800-pound gorillas of the passenger-car market, Accord and Camry, says Bill Kirrane, vice president and general manager of the Nissan division. The midsize segment also includes such popular cars as the Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Malibu and Dodge Stratus.

"It's still the biggest segment, and we need to compete there," Kirrane said. "We've always suffered because we never had a V-6 engine in the Altima." The midsize segments accounts for 4 million to 4.5 million sales per year, depending on how midsize is defined.

Altima has two new engines for 2002. A 2.5-liter, 175-horsepower 4-cylinder replaces a 2.4-liter, 155-h.p. 4 as the standard engine. The optional 3.5-liter V-6 is the same engine used in the more-expensive Maxima and Infiniti I35 sedans, though it produces 240 horsepower in the Altima, 15 less than in the others.

Nissan's strategy includes moving the Maxima more upscale, adding standard features and raising the prices to provide clear separation from the Altima. The cheapest Maxima is now the $24,699 GXE model, and this year Nissan will promote the $25,449 SE version as the volume seller.

Altima prices have not been announced, but Nissan estimates the most-popular 4-cylinder Altima model will start at $19,100, about $2,000 more than a 2001 GXE model but less than current prices of comparable Accord and Camry models. The 2001 Accord LX lists for $19,950 and the Camry LE at $20,415.

A top-of-the line Altima V-6 model with automatic transmission will be about $23,400. A 2001 Accord EX V-6 is $25,100 and a Camry XLE V-6 is $26,225. (2002 Accord and Camry prices have not been announced.)

With the new Altima expected to sell in higher numbers, Nissan has trimmed sales expectations for the Maxima, from 129,000 last year to 92,000 next year (this year's sales are 63,029 through July). Nissan initially planned on selling only 80,000 Maximas in 2002, but Kirrane says dealers told him they can sell more.

Historically, Altima outsells Maxima. Maxima, however, has stronger name recognition and greater prestige.

"We have great owner loyalty with the Maxima," Kirrane said. "People don't say they want a Nissan Maxima, they just say they want a Maxima."